


Wind and Flames

by FalsusNoctis



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Dragon Riders, Dragons, Humanstuck, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Telepathic Bond, War, dragonstuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2018-01-03 23:24:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1074271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FalsusNoctis/pseuds/FalsusNoctis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is DAVE STRIDER and you REALLY WISH this damn dragon baby would SIT THE FUCK STILL.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: IM BACK! Sorry I died for years there, mental illness is a bitch eh, but I'm actually HEALTHY now wowowowow! 
> 
> I have made some changes to the first two chapters, and finally wrote a third, I hope everyone likes it! I
> 
> Ok so this is my first fanfiction in a long time, but if you could leave feedback, helpful tips or even pointing out if Ii have messed up something it would be great, thanks guys! 
> 
> I will be updating somewhat sporadically what with work and muses and shit so. It shouldn't be large blocks of nothing at a time, at least not without a note stating why so :D
> 
> Enjoy my friends
> 
> I do not own homestuck that's not a thing
> 
>  
> 
> "Your name is DAVE STRIDER and you REALLY WISH this damn dragon baby would SIT THE FUCK STILL"

Your name is Dave Strider and you are starting to get frustrated with how your life is turning out. Your family had always been raised in the barracks, the base of the dragons of your kingdom. All dragon riders bind to a young dragon as kids themselves, giving them a chance to grow with them.

And yet here you are, sitting in front of a newly hatched dragon, rubbing oil lathering your hands.

A squeaky ‘roar’ escaped the young dragonling as you rubbed oil into its skin. You sigh heavily as it rolled over and pawed at your legs, squeaking again. You suppose it’s not as bad as it could be. You are the only one the mother dragons would allow near their babies.

You have been coming to the nesting place of the dragons, the place everyone becomes and has become bonded to their dragon. The dragon chooses their rider when they find one that they find compatible, which makes it all the more frustrating as you try to get the white-blue dragonling back into a workable position as it scrambled about and avoided your attempts. You had been here long enough for the elder dragons to have accepted your presence around their children.

Yet you haven’t, in the 11 years you had been coming here, been chosen by a dragon to become bonded.

“Morning Dave!” You hear John call. John has been your friend since you were still in diapers; you two would always mess around and pull pranks on the adults. Though as you grew older and John bonded with his own dragon, Sheila, at age 8, the two of you started grow out of it, for the most part at least. The two of you do pull shit on people every so often; it was an unavoidable urge you both got-- an itch that you couldn’t scratch until you did.

You stand up, leaving the dragonling to run off and play with the others, and make your way over to John. You wipe your forhead of sweat before sticking your oily hands into your pockets. “S'up, Egbert?”

“Nothin' really. Have the next few days off, so I was wondering if you wanted to chill! It’s been so long since we just had a bro night. We can get some movies and chill; maybe invite Karkat too!” He grinned, his adorable dorky overbite seeming more predominate then normal. “We can watch Ghost Busters and Little Monsters, and what ever shit you want to watch, like we did when we were kids!”

“Dude those movies are so lame, not even in an ironic way. I never understood why you liked those things, but whatever Egdork. I’m cool with a brodate, though are you sure you wanna make it a threesome? Like, I’m totes down for it either way.” You catch yourself starting to ramble and stop before you went on another tangent. You’ve been doing that more often lately; maybe the alone time is getting to you.

“Fuck you, Dave. They are all wonderful movies; works of art! You are just jealous, man.” He snickers and punches your arm as the two of you leave the den, walking towards the food hall. You pause to grab a towel as you make your way through the changeroom, jogging to catch up with John, before raising an eyebrow at him. “And hell yes dude let make our broship the best threesome! Everyone will be jealous of our brosome; they won’t know what to do with themselves!”

“Didn’t know you were so into that kind of thing Eggykins; does your Vriska know of this little kink?” You ask, pulling your shades down to look him in the eye and wiggle your eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh, shut up Strider. You KNOW Vriska and I aren’t a thing. We are just good friends! Really!” He protests, ending it with a pouty glare in your direction.

“Well, I guess I can see it. You are out on call so much, you’d never give her the constant attention she needs to survive.” You give a half-hearted shrug. You are pretty used to John missing on his missions. He's pretty high ranking in the troops, he even has a squad of his own to run.

The two of you make your way down the hall. You wipe your hands, then your face, with the towel you had grabbed. You frown as you remain fairly oily, even after making the cloth so dirty. Sighing and tossing the now oily, dirty rag onto your shoulder, you stop at an angry Karkat with a hyper catgirl pretty much hanging off him.

“GOD DAMMIT NEPETA I’M BUSY! GO PLAY WITH YOUR PAINTS OR WHAT EVER THE FUCK YOU DO WITH YOUR FREE TIME NOW A DAYS.” He yells, going red in the face at the small blonde pressed against his side, arms looped with his.

Karkat, you noted, was wearing a pair of track pants, and had his harness hanging like suspenders off his hips. A lot of flyers did this in case they needed to fly on short notice, but it seemed like Karkat was off duty, like John was. He was is decked in his black wifebeater, with the cancer symbol plastered on the front. You never really understood his obsession with the colour, or rather the complete avoidance of colour, but really, what do you care.

Though you would admit, if only to yourself, that you think he would look wonderful in red, not even because it’s your colour. His eyes are red like your own, but he often wore contacts when not on a mission, being overly self-conscious of them. His dark brown hair, as normal, is a mess that he refuses to try and fix more than twice a day, or at least that he would allow others to know of, though you are certain he fusses with it more than he lets on.

“But Karkiittyyy, we nefur hang out! I want to play!” She pouts, crossing her arms, not seeming to notice you and John, that or ignoring you two. Nepeta herself has on a spaghetti strapped belly top with a short green coat on. The coat itself falls barely below the end of the shirt, fur lining both the neck and bottom of it. A black leo symbol sat on the right breast of her coat. Just like Karkat, she had her harness hanging from her hip over a pair of black tights, and a blue tail that she insisted on wearing, one matching to the blue hat with cat ears she always wore. She states proudly that it was a gift from Equius.

“Do you SEE the shits I give Nepeta? Besides, Egbert and Strider are here and I have business with them, so KINDLY LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE.” He glares at her until she deflates a bit, looking like a kicked kitten, before whining, turning, and sulking off.   
“Well, I guess if you want me to go, Karkitty, I will, but I will see you later!” She ends, perking up as she skips off, likely going to find a prey for her gossip and bothering into their love life.

“Oh fuck, thank God. I never thought she’d leave me alone.” Karkat says, letting out a heavy breath and running a hand through his hair. “She’s been even more obsessive and clingy then normal lately.”

“Well, it’s probably because Equius has been gone for a while! He went on that long term mission with Rose and Kanaya, right? She’s probably just lonely.” John states, turning his head thoughtfully, and rests his hand on his cheek.

You smirk at your friends before addressing Karkat directly. “S'up Karkles? What ‘business’ was it that you had with us?” You raise your eyebrows and knock shoulders with him as you walk past, making your way towards the lunch room again. You turn to look at some of the pictures on the walls as you pass them. Most of them were portraits of old kings and commanders, but there was also quite a few paintings of the old castle, dragons flying over fields, or perched on the side of the mountain your home was based in. “Was it more advice on how to take care of that grumpy dragon of yours? Or did he claw your back up and you're too proud to go to anyone else?”

“If I was to go to anyone for the help with a wound, it would be anyone but you, jackass.” He grumbles. “No, I just said that to get that annoying shit off me. She’s been suffocating lately, but yes, I agree. I think it’s because of the lack Zahhaks presence, not that I really care.” He ends with a grumble.

“Pffftt Karkat, you totally care; you can’t hide it, not from us!” John laughs, wrapping an arm around Karkats shoulders and dragging him along with you. It was a fairly common scene: John dragging a cursing, angry Karkat to one place or another. However, the kids and visiting riders still give them odd looks when they come across the three of them. “We are having bronight tonight, wanna come? We’ll have a bunch of junk food and all the crap that would clog your arteries and fatten you up!” He laughed.

“Fattening you up is our main goal here. Don’t be fooled; Karkat is a rare delicacy, enjoyed by many.” You smirk. “Or would you rather wish some of your meat is, don’t you Karkles?”

“Oh, go fuck a cactus, Strider. Seriously, fuck you.” He glares at you, though like normal, it lacks the true anger and hate. “And I guess I could SEE if I had the time, but I’ll need to get back to you as I’m a busy man, John. I don’t always have time for your frivolousness.”

“Oh, you wish you could fuck this Karkles. I know I’m irresistible; men, women, doesn’t matter because they all fawn over me.” You purr, licking your lips at him and dragging your hands down your sides in an attempt to fluster him. You succeed in your mission to do so as Karkats face lights up like a light bulb, going bright red.

“STRIDER, NO, I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING IN YOUR PANTS, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.” he snaps, growling and yelling at you again, which only makes you smirk all the more.

“Oh, wow. Shut up, you assholes. Jesus Christ.” John sighs, aiming a smack at the back of both of your heads. You manage to duck, but Karkat takes the hit, to which you snigger at. “Karkat, we know you don’t have anything better to do; it’s Friday, and everybody knows you don’t ever have plans on a Saturday, so just meet up in my room around 10 and we’ll play video games and shit. Hell, even bring one of your weird, sappy romcoms.” He blabbers, making a face as he said 'romcom', something you fully agree with.

“God no. Why a romcom? Those things are awful! I already have to put up with your awful sense of cinema. Please don’t subject me to the horrors, THE HORRORS I SAY, of the sappy romcoms.” You whine dramatically, leaning against a wall and throwing your head back, sniffling, “I-I don’t know if I will be able to make it through another one.”

“Oh, shut up, Dave. We all know it’s because you blubber like a baby when you watch them.” Karkat snickers, smirking at you.

“Fuck you.”

“Love you too, asswipe.”

Punching the dark haired asshole of a friend in the arm, the three of you continue your journey in search of nourishment, finally making it to the lunch room. You walk into the large room, which isn't unlike a cafeteria you would see at any high school: the shitty cafeteria tables and shitty seats, the crappy soda and snack machines at the back filled with healthy food... the lunch ladies and commanders are awful, awful people. Though there IS apple juice in the soda machine, so you never complain too much. The three of you go over to the food bar and grab pizza and hotdogs, because why the fuck would you want rabbit food? You are a man, not a fluffy animal.

You flop down in one of the metal contraptions they attempt to pass off as a chair and begin shoving the food in your face, having long since stopped caring about getting the oil on your food. When you work with the dragons so long, you sort of forget that it’s not normal to have the oil you use to keep a young dragons skin from drying out and hurting itself covering you. On the upside though, it has given you AMAZING skin.

“So, you two just got back from some missions, right? How’d that shit go down? Anything interesting? Or was it just the same old drawl that it usually is?” You inquire, staring expectantly at the two of them.

“Nothing of any interest really happened with my group. Some stray dragon kids wandered off on their own, so we brought them back here. Otherwise, just a normal and boring as fuck patrol. We were assigned to the northern mountains this time. Nothing ever really happens up there; the only things north of us are a small kingdom without any military, and snow. Lots and lots of awful fucking snow.” Karkat groans. “Fucking cold up there. I felt as cold as a damned penguins' ball sacks, I swear to God.”

“I was pretty far south. There was a village that asked for help from us, so a few of my teammates and I went over to help out. Some rogues had set up a small fort in the caves near there and were harassing the villagers, taking their food and shit.” John shrugs half-heartedly. “Was easy enough, though. A few of us did get a few cuts and bruises. There were just more of them then we expected there to be. What about you, Dave? Anything interesting happen?”

“Well, Cassidy's eggs finally hatched. Three cute, orange babies. The two girls are hyper active little twerps, but the boy is a lot more introverted and shy. Took me days to have him not hide from me to help tend to him.” You give a small shrug. Tapping your fork against the side of your plate you gave a small hum of thought, "Eridan and Sollux got in another scape today, with their dragons this time. From what I can tell, Sollux attacked first, but Eridan was being a dick."

"Eridan is always a dick, so is Sollux. What else is new," Karkat said, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, well, Sollux left his dragon hurt again, so I tended to him. The poor guy takes so much shit from that douche; and then he never takes care of him. So I tend to him like I would to the wild and unbonded dragons. Make sure he’s well enough to handle healing the rest on his own."

“I’ve also grounded Eridan for the next month. His dragon hurt her wing and needs time to heal before she’s ready to hit the skies again, and I want to make sure she is ready before I let him near her. She has always had the tendency to push herself beyond her limits for the kid, but I think he realized he pushed her too far this time, ‘cause he didn’t bitch when I told him he wasn’t allowed to fly.”

John nods knowingly, even though both you and Karkat know that it is total bullshit. “Understandable, though. Yeah, someone needs to talk to Sollux. That’s not something that you can do, man. That’s not cool.”

“I would go talk to the shithead, but he doesn’t listen to a word I say, despite the fact that my advice is solid.” Karkat huffs, turning up his nose. “He is just to douche for it. I’m thinking I might let one of the commanders in his quadrant know. If he’s leaving his dragon in such a state, then he needs to be coached on that, A.S.A.P.”

“I’ll leave that to you then. If you need my testament, just let me know. I can tell them just how many times I’ve found the guy in poor state.” You shake your head before just managing to hold in a startled yelp, as a body slams into your chair from behind and arms looping around your neck.

“HEY THERE, COOLKID!” Terezi cackles, licking up your cheek which makes you scrunch your nose at the spit trail left behind. “Eating hotdogs again? Don’t you get sick of them?” She takes the seat next to you and kicks her feet out, ‘accidently’ kicking Karkat in the shin in the progress.

“Don’t you get sick of licking the colour red all the time?” You retort, bumping your shoulder against hers. The two of you were quick friends when you met, about two years prior. She had come from a kingdom far off, which didn’t have permission to have a dragon rider.

Terezi wasn’t like those of you born, raised, and trained here. She found the egg of her dragon alone and abandoned, so she started tending to it on her own. When Pyro hatched, she took an instant bond to the young girl, and the two of them grew together all on their own. The king and military ended up finding her and her dragon and ended up, after some trials and fights, sending her here in exchange for protection if they ever needed it. They were, as far as you know, a peaceful city-state so you don’t think it will ever really be relevant.

Terezi, you note, was in her old sweat shirt and scalemate design trackpants, clearly not giving any shits as to how she looks. It is the first week she had off in months, and she was going to use it however she wishes.This meant bothering the shit out of Karkat and wearing lazy clothing as much as she could.   
“Touché, coolkid. Touché.” She cackles again, sticking a stick of red chalk in her mouth, licking and sucking on it. “Red is amazing! Far better than those pink-brown pig sticks, in my opinion, though even they are better than Karkles over here, but pretty much ANYTHING is, isn’t it Dave?” she snickers, leaning against you.

“I dunno, TZ. Kitkat DOES have some pretty cool times, and maybe a few nice traits, like his butt. I mean, everyone, even the gay girls and straight boys like to check that out man. Make like groceries, and check out that plump rump!” You ramble, ending with a smirk and an eyebrow wiggle at his red faced, angry looking friend across the table.

“God dammit, Strider! Stop talking about my ass! You’ve been sayin' shit like that a lot today. Seriously, fuck off, you numbskull, assfaced, peabrained, headfucked loser.” He growls, glaring at you in an attempt to look intimidating.

“Oh, I love it when you talk dirty to me, Karkat, ohhh yes.” You moan dramatically, tossing your head back, hand to forehead. “OH, LAWDY! I THINK IM GETTING THE VAPOURS!”

“Anyway, I just thought you might want to know, Dave, that the Alpha will be getting here in a few hours. Apparently he found a leaderless clan and he’s bringing them here, so you should get your lazy ass ready, cool kid.” She grins as your eyes go wide, patting your shoulder. “Have fun and good luuuccckkk!” She snickers before turning and strutting out of the lunch room.

“Holy shit, holy shit,” you swear, “hooooolllyyy shit guys! I’m sorry, we can chat later or whatever, but I need to shower and head over there. I’ll meet with you later. New ladies to impress.” You grin, wiggling your eyebrows at them.

“Dave, they are dragons. Don’t talk like that, ew.” John complains making a face. “But whatever. Go, nerd. Get your shit done or whatever. Don’t let them eat you!”

“Or do either is fine with me,” Karkat jabs. Flipping him off, you jog out of the room, back towards your personal rooms to prepare for the impending arrival.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit the hits and the kudos and comments and wiNDCALLER MY FIRST BOOKMARK YES FRIENDS THANK
> 
> OK Chapter 2, its loner then number one which I'm pleased with, and I had one of my friends Beta it this time so it should be a little better in the flow then chapter one (which i did make small grammatical and spelling changes to)
> 
> Pretty much Dave acting like a hyper dork 
> 
> anyway, I do not own homestuck, the almighty hussie does.
> 
> Enjoy!

You stare at yourself in the mirror, patting down your clothing and brushing off dirt that wasn’t there to begin with, a dorky grin plastered on your face, and no matter how hard you try you can’t seem to remove it.

It had been a long time since Kinuvath, the alpha male of the dragon clan, last returned home. Ever since he had accepted your presence in his clan, the two of you had become friends, or as close as you can get to a dragon without being bonded to them and unable to truly speak to them.

The two of you would constantly do one thing or another to mess with the other. Begrudgingly you do admit that most of the time he messes with you but you have managed a few times to recruit the younger dragons into helping pull a prank back on him.

You finally quit fussing over yourself, knowing that it really doesn’t matter anyway, and looked over yourself in the mirror one more time before you left. You had thrown on an old tee-shirt, faded gears pattered across the chest. Despite the wear and tear it has gone through it’s still your favourite shirt, though you don’t wear it as often anymore. You always found that the shirt was lucky, at least you like to believe that. Pants-wise you were in a pair of skinny jeans, though you had gotten them so they were easy to move in. All your clothing was like that. Considering what your day-to-day life was like, it was a necessity.

You have your shades perched on top of your head, giving access to your face. Patting your cheeks in a final attempt to get your poker face back in place, you half manage to do so, though you know it won’t last. Good enough, anyway.

You slip your shades back onto their perch upon your nose and grab your work boots, tugging them on. They are also old but had yet to fail you; steel toed, heavy leather, good for working with the rambunctious kid dragons. Fuckers are heavy and it hurts like hell when they step on your feet.

You take a last glimpse around your messy room to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything, walking out and shutting your door behind yourself. Looping your thumbs though the belt rings on your pants, you casually make your way to the entrance of the den. And by casually you mean jog there after the first ten meters.

Terezi had said that Kinuvath had found another clan and was bringing them back to the den, which does worry you a bit. You know that even within the den some of the mothers fight with their kids around, and you have a feeling it is going to be a lot worse with new dragons coming in.

You really hope that it’s not a large group, and hope that MAYBE, just maybe, they won’t be hyper-aggressive. Though is experience serves you correctly, and as they are in a new place with hundreds of new dragons, as outsiders, of course they will be aggressive, trying to prove their strength and find their place in the hierarchy.

Flashstepping around people who get in your way, you make it to the den in record time, bursting through the door, panting lightly, “TZ said Kinuvath will be home soon?”

Glancing up, a tall built man with his bright orange hair pulled back into a pony tail grinned at you. “Oh Dave! Yeah he should be here in the next few hours, I take it you are excited then?”   
Attempting to pull your pokerface into place again, you stammer out, “I-I guess yeah just sorta cool I guess, you carrottop?” Dave lame totally not obvious at all. You aren’t like a kid on Christmas at all. Yeah smooth totally smooth not like sand paper AT ALL. Yeah.

“Yes, it will be nice to have his presence here again; some of the younger dragons are getting full of themselves. In the meantime, I think there’s some kids who want your attention David” he says, nodding behind you, which is the only warning you get before you are knocked flat by a squealing dragonling.

Groaning, you roll and shove the kid off. “Jesus Christ, warn me a bit sooner next time, asshole,” you hiss, before standing up and staring down at the young black and orange dragonling while tapping your foot. Said dragonling squirms and looks guilty, hiding its face under its paws and whining.

Laughing, you haul the kid up and spin him around. “You know better than that Tommy Tom, come on now, ya shit.” Grinning, you set him down as he lets out a startled bark. You pat him on the head before making your way over to the rest of the group of kids, leaning against, Sarath, one of the mothers, arm. Watching with a small grin as Tommy ran forward from where he had been behind you, pouncing on another dragonling, causing both of them to let out loud squealing and small roaring.

You huff as Sora leans down and nuzzles you lightly before dragging you in front of her, licking your hair and fussing over you. “No NO Sarath STOP ah no I just showered you shit you curse loudly, trying to flee her grasp as she messes up your hair. Despite the fact you have yet to bond with a dragon yet, and thus come into the ability to speak with dragons, you can still feel the pure amusement coming from her when she finally let you go, your hair slicked with dragon spit, cowlicked straight out. “God dammit, Sarath, my hair,” you huff

Running your fingers through your hair in an attempt to fix it into something at least a little manageable and respectable, you glare up at Sarath. Unsurprisingly your attempts and fussing are not very effective, and you only manage to make it stop sticking up at angles that would match Egbert’s if he were here.

You make your way back towards the lounge room that’s attached to the den, glaring back at the dragons behind you, before opening the door with a huff once again, and then proceed in slamming it shut with a frown, walking towards the bathroom. “If he gets here let me know, in the meantime, I’m going to do damage control.”

Shutting and locking the door behind you, you pace over to the sink, staring at yourself in the mirror. You look worse than you thought you did, and you quickly turn on the sink before setting your shakes aside and sticking your head under the tap, soaking your hair. You run your fingers through your blonde locks to make sure it’s all been watered down before shutting the tap off and shaking your head, spraying water everywhere.

“God damn dragons sometimes, Christ,” you mutter, fussing with your hair to try and make it at least somewhat presentable. You know she did it on purpose, probably payback for when you and John dumped the tub of jello onto her and some of the other elder dragons.

You don’t think you will ever regret that day, despite the trouble you two got in.

Finally coming to the conclusion that your hair isn’t going to get any better than it is currently, you hoist yourself onto the dry counter, leaning against the wall, shutting your eyes to simply think. You wonder, outside the standard defensive aggression, what the new dragons will be like.

You assume there won’t be many males in the group, as Kinuvath wouldn’t really care to have more to try and take his position as clan leader - not that he’s ever lost the standing as it is, but you can understand how annoying it would be to constantly deal with it.

There are even some from here at base you know will challenge him; the ones who have grown up spoiled, without him around to keep them in line. It will be an interesting show when it does happen, though, it’s been a while since Kinuvath has shown off.

You close your eyes for just a minute, thinking about all of the things that will be to come, and the things that MAY happen, a small smile planting itself on your face. Sighing softly, you end up slipping into a light sleep.

It isn’t until a loud knock on the door a few hours later you awaken with a start, then a few curses as you fall off the counter. Catching yourself you haul your ass over to the door, grabbing your shades as you pass them, before opening it. “Whaddya want?” you grumble, scratching your head.

“The group will be here any minute now. John’s squad has gone to meet them, thought I’d let you know before they got here and you slept your lazy ass through it, which would be fucking hilarious but I’d rather you not try to kick my ass later - it’s bothersome to floor you every time you try,” Karkat says, rolling his eyes, “Well? Hurry your lazy ass up, I’d like to see them get here as well, fucknut.”

“Fuck you, Karkat, you know you can’t just floor me, I have kicked your ass how many times?” you yawn, but brush past him anyway, making a beeline towards the door that let into the den. “How long was I even in there for, I don’t even remember falling asleep.”

“Long enough for them to get here, clearly,” Karkat sniped, smirking back at you, “Regardless, apparently there’s a lot of strong personalities in the group, so you better keep an eye out for the twerps - we don’t want to lose any dragonlings, it will only cause a rift and we really want to avoid that.”

“Well no duh we want to avoid that,” you snap at him, sighing, “I know that merging them with the group is going to be a pain in the ass, don’t think I don’t, but it’ll be cool to have everyone else back again… Well, not everyone, but sure Rose, Kankan and the rest of the will make it home fine, they always do.”

“Yeah, but for now let’s concentrate on keeping the peace.” He sent a glare back at you as you mocked the words he said back to him, mouthing them in a dramatic manner, “Oh, fuck off and hurry up, Strider.”   
The two of you make your way to the den entrance, walking out onto the large plateau in front of the caves opening, watching the skies for the incoming dragons and riders. If what Karkat and the others who were bustling about said was true, they should be here any minute.

Ever since you were a kid you have always been fascinated with dragons; how they look when they fly, their structure, their muscle and size, even each different body shape and type. It was really cool to see the various scale patterns, the horns, the wings, the extras. Even the texture and density varied between dragons.

The ability to be able to tell from a young age the type of flyer the dragonlings will be when they get older was something only you could do, from years of observing and seeing how they grow, how the different type of bodies tend to stick to a pattern; be it speed, strength, endurance, you can almost always predict what they’ll turn out as.

Of course, knowing their personalities helps a lot as well with that matter, anyway. But other than the body types that you know you will see, you have no idea what these dragons are like, how they work, what they do best; the most you can make is an educated guess, which, while it’s all you are going to get, still makes you a tad frustrated.

Finally you see the dragons round the southern mountain, circling around in front of the plateau as dragons landed one at a time. You quietly observe from the side, taking in each new dragon with an analytical look on your face. A lot of the females seem quite small; whether it’s from the normal type or malnutrition you can’t be sure, though.

As you watch a small meek looking male pass, seeming to almost curl in on himself, the loud thud of a larger dragon landing draws your attention to the front - a large charcoal dragon, whose scales seem to get even darker the further down her back they got. Turning her head, her green hooded eyes make direct contact with yours, causing you to shiver at the feeling of being stared into your very core.

She flares out her massive but elegant-looking wings before settling them more comfortably on her back as she walks past you. She’s significantly larger than the other dragons you have seen fly in so far, and you can only assume she’s the one who leads their clan, if the scars are anything to go by.

She has long, sharp-looking claws, along with natural bone plates covering her head and neck. Her long neck is matched and passed by her tail, long and thick, looking like it could do a good deal of damage if used as a weapon.

You end up getting lost in your thoughts, staring after her, not noticing until far too late that Kinuvath had come in and stalked up behind you, grabbing you by the collar of your shirt lightly with his teeth, holding you above ground. You yelp, startled, and struggled, ending in you squirming out of your shirt and landing on the ground with grace.

“Oh you shit, that was not nice.” You glare up at the large dragon who looks far too pleased with himself. “You know I’ll get back at you for this, now give me my shirt back!”

“Oh, Dave!” John called out, jogging up to you. “Some of the new dragons are pretty hurt and weak, do you think you can try and help? You’re really the only one that could even try at this point and have the chance to be able to,” he asks, his voice making it sound more like a plead then a request, which is further reinforced by a pout and a puppy dog look. “Please? I feel really bad for them, apparently they had been fighting against another clan that had been taking over the area they resided in, and they were losing….”

You groan and run one of your hands down your face in defeat. “Yeah John, I guess I could try, but I need you to gather all my healing shit, you know what I’m talking about.” Letting out a small sigh, you turn and make your way over to where the new dragons have huddled and set up their nesting area, moving cautiously.

“Hey, guys, I’m here to help with the wounds and shit, I can’t really hear you as I’m not bonded yet or whatever, so you need to work through body language and shit, but really, I’m not here to cause trouble.” You approach slowly, hands help in the hair to show you are not a threat and that you mean no harm. You move over to the closest dragon, rubbing her scales in what you hope is a comforting manner for her, looking over various wounds and upturned scales. There are a few you have to remove, glad John finally got back with his care kit.

“Thanks Egbert, now isn’t there something that kingyking wanted your help with? I’m going to be busy pretty much all night and probably some of tomorrow, too.” You glance over your shoulder at him before starting to carefully remove all the broken scales, and tending to the ones that needed to be eased out.

Nodding, John grins up at you before turning to go. “Good luck, Dave, try not to get eaten - it would be a shame to lose my bro before our bronight, after then you can go nuts.” He laughs and ducks as you throw an empty metal container at his head, glaring as he jogs off cackling.

Grumbling, you dampen a cloth with hydrogen peroxide, gently patting it to one of the larger wounds that looked like it’s starting to become infected, frowning as it fizzes drastically. You repeat this on the same wound a few more times before moving through the rest of the cuts and gashes littered on the dragon.

You then proceed to wrap and gauze any of the more open wounds you can, slathering them with antibiotics before pulling away only when you hear her growl in a tad threatening way. “Okay, you need to rest, not move or get in too many kerfuffles for a while or you are just going to get hurt even more.”

You pat her side before turning and looking at the other dragons around her, some staring at you, some curious, some wary, others glaring. You mentally take note not to try with the angry, likely over-prideful dragons.

You find yourself repeating the same general process on a number of the dragons, ordering food for them so they can eat until they’re well enough to fight and hunt for themselves. Glancing at the clock, you notice just how late it’s gotten, having lost time a long while ago. It was about half past 2 in the morning - you predict you’ve been at this for at least 12 hours.   
Shaking your head, you finally come across the large black dragon again. “Alright, it’s your turn, chick”, you say in a near monotone voice, staring up at her expectantly. She growls, but then sighs and follows you regardless into the shower room you’ve been using so you’ll be able to rinse the blood out after.

Looking her over, you notice that there are a lot more wounds on her then the others, though again if she was the alpha then she would be working to protect her family. The one wound that sticks out most, that you mentally scold yourself for noticing earlier, is a large gash in her wing, the jagged situation it seems to be in dominated when compared to the others wounds.

You notice as well that it was crudely put together to try and heal, though you know that it would just fuck up her flying in the long run and you know she knows that as well.

“Listen, to deal with this I’m going to have to cut in again and fix it, otherwise you’re gonna fuck up your wing pretty badly, alright? Thought I would let you know before I did it.” You say these things loudly and clearly, to make sure the intimidating dragon in front of you won’t bite your head off when you do so and surprise her. Surprising dragons, especially new ones, can be very bad. The ones here are used to you but you are being much more cautious now.

You take out a long, extremely sharp, though thin, blade, rubbing it down with sterilizer and tugging at the wing in a silent request for her to open it. Begrudgingly she opens the wing and you run your hand gently over the wound, considering how to approach it, and how to go about fixing it.

Nodding when you come to the conclusion that you will need to cut a bit further then the end of the tear, and sew it back together, you start to gently cut through the skin of the wing, working your way towards where you were going to bring the slit to an end.

The flesh of a dragon’s wing is, usually, very durable and sturdy. It’s why you had to have the knife you did; it was made specifically for what you are currently doing, though you note that the wing you’re working on is particularly tough, and you have to change your blade 3 times before you finally reach the part you cut into a point, to make it easier to handle with once you started mending it back together.

You’re honestly surprised that she’s sitting there in silence as you work on her wing, simply watching you as you cut, eyes following you as you walked over to your kit, pulling out a large needle and metal string. The string had been designed to be sturdy enough to handle the wing’s movement, but flexible as to not hinder said movement.

You also grab a bunch of spare cloths, and the same antibiotics that you had used earlier, before walking back to her. Walking back down the slit in the wing, you prepare the needle and thread for use, touching her wing at the end before pressing the needle through the skin.

You slowly work your way down the wing, dabbing the blood away as you did, gently rubbing the antibiotic cream in place with a steady, practiced hand. This isn’t been the first time you have done a procedure like this, though you up the carefulness and slow down the task itself. Again, the dragon never takes her eyes off you, but does stay silent, not making any move to attack you or swat you away from her wing.

You finally come to the end of the gash and sew it shut, knotting the string, then taking the knife you had used before and cutting the excess off. You eye your work, rubbing your hands on your pants, staining them further with blood and cream. You were pretty used to having your clothing end in this manner, though you were happy you could usually get the stain out without too much hassle.

Content with your work you pat the wing lightly as you walk to your kit, putting away all your tools, other than the cream, and take out the same tools you had been using on the others.

“Alright, I’m finished with the wing, I’m going to start on some of the wounds on your back,” You state, moving and hoisting yourself onto her back. For a moment you allow yourself to smile faintly. You love sitting on a dragon’s back; it always, in the back of your mind, makes you feel like an actual rider, even if it’s just for a moment.

You stand up and walk over to her neck, touching it lightly before straddling just behind a nasty bite wound, and begin gentle removing the larger bits with your fingers, then taking tweezers to the little remaining pieces of broken scale. This goes on for hours.

It’s not until you are jolted away by the movement of the black dragon crouching as to let one of the men on duty take you off her back, did you realize at some point you fell asleep on top of her, tending one of the smaller wounds on her back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Years later chapter 3 yay! Enjoy! 
> 
> I own nothing nor do I make money from this

You groan as you snap awake, realizing what had happened. The worker set you on your feet on the ground, chuckling with amusement as you sprang back a few feet, face going more red by the moment. Why couldn't you ever keep your pokerface.

"Have a good rest, Sleeping Beauty?" asked a voice from behind, smirk evident in his tone. You spin around, coming face to face with your brother Dirk. Shit.

"Yeah man just, making friends with the new dragons. Gaining their trust and what not," you reply, doing your best to keep your tone neutral. From the widening smirk on Dirk's face, you figured you didn't do as well as you'd have liked. 

"Right, I can see that..Didn't expect you to put in so much extra time into your job though, your usually out of here for dinner..." he remarked casually, glancing down at his phone. 

You realize you have no idea what time it is, and that you are, in fact, starving. Pulling out your phone you freeze, eyes widening behind your shades. 1:38a.m. Crap you had plans almost four hours ago, how did you sleep so long and why did noone wake you up?

"What the fuck why did no one wake me up sooner?" you snap, sending a quick message to John, saying you'll be there shortly. You know they're still awake, these nights tend to end after the sun rose. 

"You just looked so sweet and peaceful, noone wanted to bother you," Dirk purred, turning his phone to show you a photo of yourself, asleep on the large dragons back, your head resting against the base of her neck. Her head lifted slightly, turned to look at whoever was taking the photo, but otherwise settled down and relaxed, "Actually, to be honest, she wouldn't let anyone near the two of until she decided it."

 

That certainly caught you off guard. You had begun to fume about the fact that Dirk had taken a photo of you passed out (because you know it was him, no one on base has as clear of a camera), but the suggestion that this wild alpha female was defensive over you, in particular, through you for a loop.

"I don't think that's what happened. She let me near only because she seen me take good care of the other dragons, and probably because some of ours tried to reassure her," you look around the current hive sector, scanning to see if there were any high ranking dragons of your bases that may have convinced her to let someone get you as you speak, a frown on your face, "She is probably just aggressive to most strangers. Did Kinuvath stop by, tell her to let them take me?"

"Nope. After the first time she was aggressive to the workers trying to obtain you, they called me down. They figured in your brother, so scent might help. She was having none of it. So I've been waiting here, observing and doing some coding since. Only when you started to sort of wake up did she let anyone near you."

"That's not creepy at all. Watching me sleep, taking photos of me sleeping," you try to play off how much that fact both unnerved and maybe, sort of excited you. "Please tell me you didn't send that photo to John."

"I swear on my computer system, I did not send this photo to John, or anyone for that matter," Dirk replied dutifully, the swear itself leading you to believe him, but the small smirk that tugged at his lips made you distrustful.

"Not sure I believe you," you groan, running a hand through your hair, turning and making your way to the exit "I got to go, I had plans I'm late for."

"Enjoy your date Davey!" called after you in a singsong voice, laughing as the doors shut behind you.

You pick your pace up to a steady jog, dodging around the occasional person as you went. There were always people in the caverns halls, the riders worked in shifts, there were always food staff about and people running orders. 

As you made your way through these halls, you begin to notice a pattern. Giggles that follow when you pass by, the occasional shout of Have a nice nap? or Enjoy your cuddles? and at least one Hey Sleeping Beauty.

You were going to kill Dirk. Later though, now you needed to get to your bronight and hope that they've been too engrossed in their shitty cinema to have seen what everyone seems to have seen. Fucking Dirk, didn't send it so anyone, what a liar. You hope his computer explodes.

Arriving at Johns block you let yourself in. You don't remember the last time you knocked, it's always been open doors between you two.

John glanced back over the couch as you walked in, grinning widely, "About time you got here Dave! You missed the Ghostbusters movies already and one of Karkats movies. Uh, some really sappy old flame type movie. Poor current fiancee who gets left and heart broken, and loses all that money and time from the wedding planning it's just not right."

You feel such a relief, hearing him ramble on about movies. The more he talks about those the less likely it seems that he's seen the photo.

"It's romantic John, the love she lost because he moved away, they got reunited and their feelings just had never died," Karkat sniffled, glaring at John, "It was a masterpiece. Now Dave, sit the fuck down, you're just in time for the next movie."

You hop over the back of the couch, landing between them, before stretching out on top of their laps. This was perfect, you'll deal with the ruined reputation tomorrow, now was just bro time, watching shitty movies and enjoying your sweet bromance. "Fuck yeah, let's get this movie watching back on track, let's play this shit! So, what movies next?"

With a silent smirk, Karkat hit play. 

"Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, a beautiful princess was born ... a princess destined by a terrible curse to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and become Sleeping Beauty."

You roll off their laps yelling in indignation, flash stepping away, as John and Karkat lost themselves in a laughing fit "GOD DAMMIT I AM GOING TO KILL DIRK WHAT THE FUCK! He said he didn't send it to anyone!"

"He didn't, as far as I know, technically send it to anyone," giggled John, tossing his phone at you.

You catch it with ease and frown down at the screen, eyes scanning the page. It had the words Sleeping Beauty plastered across the top of the screen, and below were photos and videos of you, asleep, on top of the alpha female.

"He sat there and coded," you mutter, rubbing your eyes under your shades, "coded a damn website to post all the evidence god damn him." 

"I dunno I think you look kind of cute in those!" John said, grin on his face.

"A sleeping Strider is my favourite kind of Strider. They don't talk then," added Karkat.

"And some of the videos of her being all defensive are pretty cool! Maybe she uh, yknow..." 

"John," you whisper, body going tense. You had the small hope but it wasn't realistic. You couldn't handle hearing someone say it out loud, making you believe that maybe...

"Like, I'm just saying, they tend to get territorial when-"

"John, don't-"

"-they want to bond. Isn't that a good thing Dave?"

Before you can stop yourself, you explode on hjm, "SHE'S A WILD, ADULT, ALPHA FEMALE JOHN YOU REALLY THINK SHE HAS ANY INCLINATION TO BOND WITH ANYONE? IT'S NEXT TO UNHEARD OF FOR TRUE WILDS TO BOND, NOT TO FUCKING MENTION A FULLY GROWN WILD. YOU REALLY FUCKING THINK I EVER HAVE A CHANCE TO BOND WITH A DRAGON? IT'S BEEN YEARS JOHN, I GUESS IM JUST BROKEN," you choke out at the end, turning away from your wide eyed, shocked friends.

"I-I'm sorry Dave, I didn't think it would upset you this much. I don't think you're broken at all, I just think, that maybe the dragon you're destined for has got to be something pretty big and strong, and that's why you haven't bonded yet...." John said, speaking softly.

"It's a nice idea, isn't it," you snap, running a hand through your hair. You glare at the website again, as if it's the cause of all your problems, "Sad boy who never gets chosen, while all the other kids grow with their dragons, ends up magically getting the big strong best dragon. Good kids book John, you should be a writer." 

Taking a deep breath you make your way towards the door. Maybe you'll go for a run, it had been a while since you've been out in the woods.

"Where are you going Dave? I'm sorry put on sleeping beauty, and I bugged you about the dragon thing, I shouldn't have don't that. Stay and watch movies with us, you can choose the next one?" John tried, kneeling on the couch leaning over the back of it.

"Yeah Strider, stop being such a baby who poops in his diapers and come sit down."

"Nah I need some space, I think I'm going to go for a walk in the woods. I forgot how long I've been in these caves for." You leave without another word, letting the door shut behind you. You yank your headphones from your pocket and plug them in before jamming them in your ears. 

Turning the volume to max, you head off, quickly picking up a steady running pace. You take the less used hallways, avoiding as many people as you can as you go. You soon find the air becoming fresher, a slight breeze forming as you near the caverns entryway. 

You don't slow your pace as you turn another corner and into the main entry hall, and straight out of caves into the cool night air. You keep running until you hit the forest, keeping to one of the slightly less worn, but still there paths. Only when you can no longer see the mountain through the thickness of the trees do you slow down to a mild jog. You have good stamina, and could keep running for quick a while longer, but you plan on being out here until you calm down, and who knows how long that'll take.

You barely pay attention to the scenery around you, focusing on the way your muscles feel, the pull and tension of each movement, the slight burn in your calves as you ascend hills. 

You don't pay any particular attention to where you're going, taking the occasional offshoot path here or there. You come across a small stream running through the woods, and stop to rinse your face. There were many small streams and springs in the area, rooting from underground wells and hotsprings, though the latter tended to be only in the deep caverns.

You keep moving on your jog, eventually coming to large clearing, edged with a cliff. Walking to the edge you plop yourself on the grass and stare out at the stars. You find you mind beginning to drift back to the annoying false hope in your chest.

It was true, that when a dragon was interested in a person as a bond mate, they tended to get more defensive and territorial about the individual. They would be more prone to attack other dragons or people who try to get too close to the person, regardless of who that person or dragon was. 

But a large part of that you chalk up to the fact that when dragons and humans bond, it tends to be from a young age. The dragons haven't learned proper edict, there's hormones going off making them want to find their place in the ladder of their peers, and often, those older then them.

The human they have chosen, is also often young too, so they feel that they need to protect them. To be fair human children aren't very good at defending themselves, but the dragons kids take it too far, until they are taught better.

This is a fully grown, clearly experienced dragon, who as far as the scars tell, has been the primary defence for the clan without an Alpha Male, and had been in a battle possibly recently. It's far more likely that you got lucky in getting close to her to begin with.

This was stressing you out. Pushing your shades up, you lay there in the grass with your hands pressed against your eyes, trying to even your breathing out. 

There's no reason this dragon would have any interest in you anyway. She's clearly a fighter and while you certainly knew how to use a sword, you were definitely branded more as a healer, or more realistically, the caregiver. The human dragon mom. 

You're not sure how long you laid there, or how zoned out you really were, but when the warm, sulphuric smelling breath of a dragon washed over you, accompanied by the sound of a large body laying down right behind you, you had to think that you really need to be more aware of your surroundings, because it's going to get you in legitimate trouble one of these days.

"Listen, I'm fine I don't need any help thanks, you can go back on your patrols now" You call out, hoping whatever rider decided to crash your party will just go on his way.

When after an abnormal amount of silence, and the continued presence of nearby, steady slow breathing of a dragon, you decide you might as well open your eyes and see what's up. 

Laying behind you, in a crescent circle as though to block you from the woods, or, and your unsure where the thought came from, the wood from you, was the black wild female.

Her tail wrapped around to your left, the tip curling over the edge of the cliff, while her head resting a short distance away from your on your right, watching you with glittering red-amber eyes.

"What the fuck?" you ask aloud, staring at her as though you expect a reply. She continues to watch you in silence, seemingly unperturbed by your sudden outburst. 

"I don't understand. Why are you here? Do you think you need to repay me for helping with y'alls wounds because don't worry about it. I'm here to help, I hate seeing anyone suffering. There's no danger in these woods, and I plan to be here for a long time still, so you should go back to the caves. You're clans probably nervous, being without their leader."

With a particularly sulphuric huff of air, she shifted herself slightly resting her head more comfortably on her forelegs before closing her eyes. You get the distinct feeling you've been told to drop the subject.

Maybe she could use a break from caverns herself. You watch her for a while longer, before glancing back at the peak of your home. From the slight change of colours of the sky in the distance, you figure you have another couple hours before the sun's truly up and your responsibilities begin. Looking back at your current companion, you let out a sigh and think fuck it, may as well enjoy the silent company. You stare at the sky and stars for a long while longer before you find your breathing syncing up with the sleeping dragon, and end up shutting your eyes, for just a minute, what could it hurt?

After what feels like only a few minutes you feel a heavy nudge to your side. You crack open an eye, looking up at the dragon who just nudged you from your slumber. She stares down at you with what you can label only as impatient, and nudged you again.

"Alright I'm awake fuck," you groan, sitting up. Glancing at the sky, you moan when you realize that sun is already starting to peak over the mountain top. You are late. Not only did you sleep the end of your last shift, and dinner, you also just slept through breakfast and the start of your next shift.

"Fuck, I'm late," you groan, standing up quickly, "you should also be getting back. Break from people is over, time to get back to work."

With a final stare that felt like it could see into your soul, she took flight, circling around before heading back towards the caverns.

You follow suit and take off at a steady run. You're stomach hurts from lack of food, but it's your own fault and if you don't get back soon, the kids would get hangry, and the moms would not be pleased with you. It's never fun to have angry dragons on your hands.

At your pace you make it back to the entrance within an hour, and while your stomach and muscles aren't pleased with you, you're pretty proud of the time you made. You slow to a walk when you make it to the clearing of the entrance, strolling up as though you hadn't been out all night, and just run your ass off to get back.

You frown as you enter the caverns, seeing John pacing in full uniform, Shiela beside him, stress etched into his face. You really hope it's not because you were gone that he's in such a state.

"John?" you call out to him. His had snap up upon hearing your voice. The stress in his face somehow both relaxes and intensifes as he sees you, jogging up to you, "John, what's wrong?"

"Dave, thank God I was about to go look for you. Rose's team just got back, they're hurt, bad. Rose and Kanaya are in intensive care, and their dragons aren't much better off, we need you down there ASAP." John spoke quickly, straining his last words to emphasize the urgency.

"What about Zahhak?" You ask, eyebrows creasing as the two of you made at a steady run down towards the dragon hives.

John stayed quiet, a look of pain crossing his face. 

"John, what about Equius? Where is he?" you ask again, more forcefully this time.

"..... He didn't make it. They were ambushed on the way home, and he died giving Rose and Kanaya a chance to escape."


End file.
